Multicolor and perfecting printing-machine.



"No. 687,866; Patented Dec. 3, 19m.

MULTIGDLOR AND PERFEGTING PRINTING MAG'HiNE.

W. SPALCKHAVEB.

(Application filed flat. 20, I901.)

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No. 687,866. Patented 666' 3, 190i.

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MULTICOLOR AND PERFECTING PRINTING MACHINE.

I (Application filed Mar. 20, 1901.) (No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

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N0. 587,866. Patented Dec. 3, l90l.

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MULTIGOLDR AND PERFECTING PRINTING MACHINE.

(Applicnxion filed May 20, 1901.) v (No Model.) 3SheetsSheet 3.

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. UNITED STATES PATENT UEEicE.

WILLIAM SPALCKHAVER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO ROBERT HOE,

, OF NElV YORK, N. Y.

MULTICOLOR AND PERFECTING PRl NTlNG=-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 687,866, dated December3, 1901. Application filed March 20, 1901. Serial No. 52,030. (Nomodel.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM SPALOK- HAVER, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at New York, county of Kings, and State of ew York,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Multicolor andPerfecting Printing-Machines, fully described and represented in thefollowing specification and the accompanying drawings, forming a IO partof the same.

This invention relates to certain improvements in printing-machines, andhas for its object to produce a machine which will be capacitated toeither print in colors or perfeet, as may be desired.

The invention consists in certain construc- ,tions and in certain parts,improvements, and c0mbin'ati0ns,as will be hereinafter described andthen specifically pointed out in the claims hereunto appended.

In the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification,and in which like characters of reference indicate the same parts,Figure 1 is a side elevation of 'so much c5 of a printing-machine as isnecessary to an understanding of the invention, the machine beingarranged to perfect a sheet. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a similarmachine arranged to print a sheet in four colors. Fig. 3 is an plan viewillustrating the arrangement of the driving-gearing for the machineshown in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a plan view of the construction shown in Fig.2, illustrating the drivinggearing.

3 5 Referring to the drawings, which illustrate one embodiment of theinvention, 1 indicates a frame,which may be of any usual or desiredconstruction. The frame in the present instance is arranged to supportthe form-car- 0 riers of two printing-couples, said form-carriers in themachine shown being cylinders and marked 2 and 3. The form-carrier 2 ismounted on a shaft 4 and the form-carrier 3 on a shaft 5, said shaftsbeing preferably supported in the usual adjustable boxes 6.

Cooperating with the form-carrier 2 is an impression member 7, which isshown as a cylinder mounted on a shaft 8, said shaft being supported inboxes of any usual description.

This cylinderis provided with sheet-taking devices, which may be of anysuitable form.- As shown, these sheet-taking devices consist of grippers9. These grippers may be operated by any of the usual devices well knownin the art for that purpose; but since these devices form no part of thepresent invention they are not illustrated.

In addition to the impression member so far described the frame servesto support two other members, either of which by suitable 6o adjustmentsmay be arranged to cooperate with the form-carrier 3 and act as animpres sion device for said carrier. In the present machine thesecooperating members consist of cylinders 10 and 11, the cylinder 10being supported on a shaft 12 and the cylinder 11 on a shaft 13. Theshaft 12 of the cylinder 10 is mounted in boxes of any usual description. The shaft 13 of the cylinder 11 is so mounted as to enable arelative adjustment to be efiected between the cylinder and theform-carrier 3. While this adjustment may be attained in any suitable ordesired mannor, the shaft is preferably mounted in boxes 14, which are.or may be adjustable through the medium of screws 15, the constructionbeing one which is well understood in the art.

By suitable relative adjustments the cylinder 3 may be caused tocooperate in the printing operation with either the cylinder 10 or thecylinder 11-that is to say, the cylinder 10 may act as theimpression-cylinder for the form-carrier 3 or the cylinder 11 may act asthe impression-cylinder for the form-carrier, according to the productto be printed. The means by which the relative adjustments are obtainedmay be varied and the adjustments may be obtained by moving any of themembers. In the construction shown the cylinder 10 is made stationary,and the cylinder 3 is moved toward and away from it by means of itsadjustable boxes. The cylinder 11 is made to follow the cylinder 10 by amovement given to the boxes in which its shaft 13 is mounted. 5

When the cylinder 11 is acting as an impression-cylinder, the cylinder10 will act as a transfer device, said cylinder being provided withgrippers 16 or any other form of sheet-taking devices which take thesheet from the grippers 9 on the cylinder 7 and transfer it to grippers17 or other suitable form of sheet-taking devices on the cylinder 11.

Any suitable form of driving mechanism may be employed. In thearrangement shown in Fig. 1 the main shaft is indicated at 18, saidshaft being provided with a pinion 19, which through intermeshing gears20 and 21 drives the cylinder 7, which is provided with a gear 23, whichmeshes with the gear 21. The shaft 8 (see Fig. 4) carries on the endopposite the gear 23 a gear 24, said gear meshing with a gear 25 on theshaft 4, and thus driving the form-carrier 2, and with a gear 27 on theshaft 12, thus driving the cylinder 10. The gear 27 on the cylinder 10meshes with a gear 28 on the shaft 13, and thus serves to drive thiscylinder.

The cylinders 10 and 11 rotate in opposite directions when referred toacommon standard-that is, the direction of movement of the hands of aWatch-and it is apparent, therefore, that when the cylinder 3 cooperateswith one of these cylinders it must be driven in one direction and whenit cooperates with the other cylinder it must be driven in the oppositedirection. The shaft 5 of the form-carrier 3 is provided with a gear 29.The shaft 12 of thecylinder 10 is provided with a slipgear 30, which issecured to the shaft by means of a feather or in any other suitablemanner. When the cylinder 10 is to act as an impression-cylinder for theform-carrier 3, the gear 30 is slid into mesh with the gear 29. At thistime the boxes in which the shaft 13 of the cylinder 11 is mounted areso adjusted that the cylinder is out of contact with the cylinder 3.With this adjustment of the machine a sheet fed to the machine from thefeedboard 31 or from any other suitable source is caught by the grippers9 and printed by the form on the cylinder 3. After being printed by thiscouple the sheet will be caught by the grippers 16 on the cylinder 10and transferred to this cylinder. While on this cylinder it receives asecond printing on the opposite side by the form on the cylinder 3,after which it is transferred to the grippers 17 on the cylinder 11 andis by this cylinder delivered to any suitable delivery mechanism, oneconsisting of a gripper-cylinder 32 and tapes 33 being indicated.

If the sheet is to be printed in colors, the gear 30 is slipped out ofmesh with the gear 29, said gears then occupying the position indicatedin Fig. 4t. The form-carrier 3 is adjusted, as shown in Fig. 2, so thatit is out of contact with the cylinder 10, and the cylinder 11 isadjusted, as shown in Fig. 2, so that it is in contact with theform-carrier. Since the cylinders 10 and 11 rotate in the oppositedirections, it is obvious that the cylinder 3 must be driven in theopposite direction from what it is driven when the cylinder 10 is actingas the impression-cylinder. While any means may be used for reversingthe direction of roseatation of the cylinder 3, the gear 20 ispreferably formed as a slip-gear and the gear 21 is a broad-faced gear,so as to permit the movement of the gear 20 without disturbing the meshof the two gears. With this arrangement of the machine the gear 20 ismoved i11- ward, so as to be in mesh with the gear 29, before describedas mounted on the shaft 5 of the form-carrier 3. 'With this arrangementof the machine the cylinder 10, instead of acting as animpression-cylinder, merely acts as a transfer device, receiving thesheet from the grippers 9 on the cylinder 7 and transferring it to thegrippers 17 on the cylinder 11. The sheet while on said cylinderreceives a second impression on the same side. After receiving itssecond printing the sheet is delivered to the delivery mechanism.

The machine as so far described is arranged to perfect a sheet or toprint it in two colors. By providing the form-carriers 2 and 3 with aplurality of forms the number of printings maybeincreased,asdesired.AsshowninFig. 2, the form-carriers 2 and 3 are provided with two forms.fore, the sheet may be printed in four colors on one side, or may beprinted in two colors on one side and perfected in a single color on theopposite side. Whenever a sheet is to be perfected, the lastform-carrierthat is, the form-carrier 3-m ust have one impressionsurfaceless than the number of impressionsurfaces on the first form-carrier inorder to allow the second impression-cylinder to make one idle ornon-printing revolution in which to deliver. The gripper mechanism willof course be arranged to operate at proper times, according to thelength of time the sheet is to be held on the impression-cylinders.

The machine is shown as printing from planographic surfaces and isprovided, there= fore, with the usual water and inking devices, whichmay be of any well-known description.-

The specific means by which the invention is carried into effect may bevaried widely. It is to be understood, therefore, that the in-' ventionis not to be limited to the particular means shown and described.

What is claimed is- 1. The combination with a printing-couple',- of asecond couple consisting of a form-carrier and two cooperatingmembers,means whereby either of said members may be caused to act as animpression device, and means whereby the other of said members may becaused to act as a transfer device, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a printing-couple, of a form-carrier, means forrotating the formcarrier in opposite directions, two cooperatingmembers, means whereby one of said members may be caused to act as animpression member arid the other member as a transfer device when theform-carrier is rotating in one direction, and means whereby said othermember may be caused to operate as an int-'- lVith this construction,therep'ression member when the form carrier is rotating in the oppositedirection, substantially as described.

3. The combination with a printing-couple comprising a form-carrier anda rotating impression member, of a second rotating impression memberarranged to take a sheet from the first rotating member, a third member,means for rotating it in a direction opposite to that of the secondmember, said member being arranged to take a sheet from the secondmember, a form-carrier, means for driving said form-carrier in oppositedirections,and means for producing a relative adjustment between theform-carrier and the second and third members so that said carrier maycooperate with either of them,substantially as described.

4. The combination with a printing-couple comprising a form-carrier anda rotating impression member, of a second rotating impression memberarranged to take a sheet from the first rotating member, a third member,means for rotating it in a direction opposite to that of the secondmember, said member being arranged to take a sheet from the secondmember, a form-carrier, means for driving said form-carrier in oppositedirections, means for moving the form-carrier toward and away from thesecond impression member, means for moving the third member toward andaway from the form-carrier, substantially as described.

5. The combination with a rotating printing-couple comprising aform-carrier having a plurality of forms thereon, and a rotatingimpression-cylinder, of a second rotating cylinder arranged to take asheet from the first cylinder, a third rotating cylinder arranged totake a sheet from the second cylinder, a second form-carrier providedwith a plurality of forms, and means for producing a relative adjustmentbetween the second and third cylinders and the second form-carrier, sothat either the second or the third cylinder may act as animpression-cylinder for the second form-carrier, substantially asdescribed.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM SPALCKHAVER. WVitnes'ses:

F. W. H. CRANE, L. ROEHM.

